Vehicles and machinery may use shafts to transfer rotational forces such as torque among components of the vehicles and machinery. For example, a drive shaft may be used to transfer torque and rotation among components of a drive train. Similarly, propeller shafts may be used to transfer torque and rotation to a propeller. Thus, shafts may be incorporated in vehicles such as cars, airplanes, and helicopters to distribute a rotational force which may be generated by a power plant, such as an engine, among various components of the vehicles.
The shaft may receive or experience a torque while transferring the rotational force. In response to receiving the torque, the shaft may deform and may even collapse upon itself if the torque is too great. In such a situation, the shaft may cease to function properly. Conventional shafts typically utilize thicker shafts to prevent such deformation under high torques. Thus, conventional shafts are typically relatively heavy because they use more material to achieve increased torque capabilities. This increased weight results in poor and inefficient performance characteristics due to large inertias associated with the heavier design. Moreover, they are more susceptible to functional failure in the event that the shaft is damaged, which may be the case when ballistic damage occurs.